Warriors Rants Theories and Headcanons
by Cinderfire16
Summary: Different things that aren't exactly stories but are still relevant to the Warriors community.
1. Firestar

**Firestar is not the best family man, and other musings on the favorite ginger hero**

In terms of Firestar, his legacy, and overall how he is as a character, I think that if you want to see one of his greatest flaws, all you have to do is look at the cats he directly (and most likely indirectly) influenced.

Cloudtail, Squirrelflight, Leafpool and the rest of his descendants basically cut off all contact with him after they no longer needed him. Which kind of implies that while he can absolutely lead by example, he's not the best teacher and his kin and apprentices have suffered for it. They don't feel comfortable enough leaning on him for advice. Even his kits, and especially when they know that they've done something wrong.

I think that's the whole reason Leafpool only told Squirrelflight. She didn't trust her parents enough to be willing to be her parents. Trusted them to lead ThunderClan and provide a good home for her kits, sure, but not to be her mother and father, cats she can share things with. Brackenfur turned out alright through sheer willpower. Brambleclaw wasn't all that capable of leading ThunderClan, and to be quite honest, he still isn't. Cloudtail was always something of a loner and he's a good warrior, but goodness did he inherit Firestar's inability to be a regular cat or what?! Firestar was the cat everyone loved because his actions gave him strength but when it came to having his family... he wasn't all that great at it.

To be fair, Firestar makes his share of mistakes and not all of his deaths were due to playing savior. He certainly didn't follow the rules in his warrior days. But he lost one of his lives in a petty battle with ShadowClan over territory that he originally gave away.

I think what's interesting about Firestar is that while he never lets his emotions compromise what he knows to be right, he still does act out in dangerous ways. I feel that he probably hesitated to see any good in Brambleclaw as a kid, and it took a long time to get around that. I actually was like "go on, Goldenflower, you set that boy right!" Because looking like my father doesn't mean I'm destined to walk his path. But he legit had to stop and think "okay who should I save" while the fire was happening. That was a moral crisis he had.

But his morality would have never let him leave the kit to die. Even though he heavily considered it.

Also, in Fire and Ice we see that he doesn't very much like sharing his friends, especially when they're wandering off to do something stupid and he knows it. He was about ready to rip Greystripe a new one because his friend was being hardheaded.

In Firestar's Quest, he fails to convince Sandstorm that he loves her. It takes them the whole trip for her to get over the feeling of being second-best. And then the Erins were stupid and killed off Spottedleaf again because "he shouldn't have to choose" which undermines all of the work the couple did to get there in the first place.

So yes he's overall a Gary Stu, but he's not that cliche of a hero.

I have a theory for how godlike he became. We all know that he came in as an outsider and aside from Greystripe, nobody took an immediate liking to him. So when he grew up and gained power, he decided to fix that. Indefinitely. And leader's word is the Code so guess what? Peace in ThunderClan whether you like it or not, kids! And I'm letting kittypets in so BAM!

Also, he never truly exiled anyone and I believe the reason for that is that he remembered what happened with the last cat to be exiled. THEY BECAME THE LEADER OF SHADOWCLAN! So I also characterize him as something of a control freak.

Like he's doing things his way whether you like it or not, and he just so happens to be right most if the time. If you want to see Firestar's greatest failure, look at the cats he had major influence over. Cloudtail, Squirrelflight, Leafpool and the rest of his descendants basically cut off all contact with him after they no longer needed him. Which kind of implies that while he can absolutely lead by example, he's not the best teacher and his kin and apprentices have suffered for it.


	2. Bluestar and Thistleclaw

Okay, so something that I notice about Bluestar's Prophecy is a lot of people saying that they don't see how Thistleclaw is evil. It's not always obvious, but there were hints. Look at how much he influenced Tigerclaw and what HE later went on to do. Look at how he died. Look at what happened in Crookedstar's Promise when he was seen training in the Dark Forest with Mapleshade. Now, none of these are concrete and here's hoping I have a good example for why.

I think that (yes, the Erins did a terrible job with showing this) Thistleclaw had the potential to go a lot further than he did. His bloodlust was on clear display in the small examples given through the super editions (and for the love of God, HE MENTORED TIGERCLAW. Tigerclaw didn't have a father figure. Who do you think manipulated him into who he became?) But I believe that the reason he didn't go further than what was merely hinted at was because of Goosefeather. Ah, Goosefeather. Here you have a cat who is basically able to see the future through the prophecies that he is given. So from the second Thistleclaw was born, Goosefeather knew his fate. And got Bluestar to block him at Every. Single. Turn. Any possibility of Thistleclaw acting on a whim would lead down a darker path (keeping Goosefeather's powers in mind) and since no one would listen to the crazy old medicine cat, he made damn sure that Thistleclaw never had a chance.

When Bluestar wanted her own life and her own family?

Nope! "Fire must burn without bonds."

That wasn't a choice that she made easily. It was Goosefeather saying "get rid of those things and complete my prophecy or I'll do it for you."

Thistleclaw... Fate just had it out for Thistleclaw (especially in terms of Snowfur.)


	3. Ashfur's Last Resort

So... Ugh, the cat everyone loves to hate. Ashfur. I still sorta hate the guy because you really can't get past trying to kill at least five cats in your lifetime because someone rejected you. You just can't. I mean, technically that'd be a level of serial killing. Minor level, but still! Let's see, he sent Birchpaw (poor Birchfall's been through some stuff) to lead Firestar into a trap of Hawkfrost's making. Something that he was in on even if Birchpaw wasn't. He had to mentor Lionpaw. (Which, he did a pretty good job of despite the kid being a spoiled brat. Oh my God I hated Lionblaze for the longest time, he was such a little prince! Then again, so were Jayfeather and Hollyleaf. But more on that later.)

But, my fellow warriors, let's keep something in mind here. Squirrelflight hung out with Brambleclaw and Ashfur when they were all younger. She had problems with Brambleclaw and she (mistakenly, absolutely) turned to Ashfur. Ashfur had a crush on Squirrelflight that presumably,

no

one

knew

anything

about.

And then Ashfur got his heart broken when he was rejected. It is A-OK to feel emotions. Express them, wail and cry and scream all you want, because love is not and easy high to come down from. I understand that part completely. My problem is, and what no one seems to be too concerned about...

The Three weren't even a thought when Ashfur took his first trip down Heartbreak Highway.

The Three were grown when the fire happened. Say it with me, folks. Jayfeather, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze were Adult Cats when the fire happened. That means...

ASHFUR WAITED YEARS for this. Sure he didn't originally intended to kill them. He could have been pushed over the edge by having to mentor Lionpaw of interacting with Squirrelflight and her family day after day. But even still. Why does no one seem bothered by the fact that one day, years after he originally got his heart broken, Ashfur decides to kill Squirrelflight and her kids. Decides "I'm gonna kill myself, the woman I used to love but now hate, and her three FULLY GROWN kids that definitely should have been mine. That sounds great!"

What?

So while I understand that he was a good warrior overall and he would have been too weak for the Dark Forest anyway, dirty looks should be the least of Ashfur's problems in StarClan. And Yellowfang have a weak as heck excuse, but if you think about it, it makes a sick sort of sense. Not just anyone would act on their desires to flat out kill someone else. We call those murderers and serial killers and they usually go to jail for however long. But there is no cat jail, and most of Ashfur's simmering hats was kept surprisingly under wraps, for heartbreak. But he did what he did and he got into StarClan by the skin of his teeth. I'd imagine that it's not an easy thing to think of someone going to cat hell, but that's basically what most of the fandom wanted Ashfur to do.

But he was too weak for it. So!

Ashfur. He's got himself some issues and here's hoping he fits in StarClan under the many glares he receives per second per cat he meets there. Because there are a lot of cats in StarClan. And he's pissed off every single one of them.


	4. The Erin's Did No Research

Okay, so the Wiki and one of the authors say a that Whitestorm is Brindleface's mate but it never fit with me. It's out of character for him to leave his kits to fend for themselves, even if he's fallen out of love with Brindleface. And queens aren't required to tell who the father is, but Whitestorm didn't raise Ashpaw and Fernpaw, didn't even really interact with them as kits. So if he was their father, he was really bad at it, which, he has more kits that he's good with so that might not be the case, OR Brindleface is ashamed of her kits' father and didn't want to associate them with him OR it was a one-time thing.

I personally headcanon that Darkstripe is their father. I saw it in a story once and it made sense. What do you guys think?


	5. Poor ShadowClan

Some people say that ShadowClan are automatically the bad guys. At first I disagreed. If you want to know just how seriously messed up the other Clans were, read Tallstar's Revenge and Crookedstar's Promise. WindClan had to delete half their culture and RiverClan was apathetic as all get-out.

I figured ShadowClan were the antagonists was because they had Brokenstar (way to go, Yellowfang, you really set your kid up with that one.) for a leader. And they weren't always bad just like ThunderClan wasn't always good. The Erins did a wonderful job of making sure they got the short end of the stick. Worst territory, plague and famine, terrible leaders... I thought Rowanstar would be as good as if not better than Blackstar but NO they had to mess him up too.


	6. Cats hate parenting?

Soooooo... Overall stereotypical rant about the parents of Warriors. Not even the obviously bad ones like Crowfeather or Rainflower. I want to know why Firestar ran Squirrelflight off or why Leafpool felt that she couldn't go to her mother when she found out she was pregnant. How did no cat in RiverClan (even her father) figure out that something was up with Silverstream? Why couldn't Yellowfang tell the Clan that she was pregnant with Brokenstar before she became a medicine cat? (Feel free to spoil Yellowfang's Secret because I doubt I'll finish it. The idea of her having powers made no sense!) How did Crowfeather turn out to be such a bad-tempered cat when Ashfoot was an awesome cat? And Brindleface was the sweetest queen in the world. What, no one ever taught Ashfur how to handle a crush? Greystripe acts like Willowpelt doesn't exist. Actually, a lot of cats do that to their parents. Sandstorm didn't grieve like a daughter as much as a lost Clanmate. Dustpelt completely rejected Ravenpaw, treated him like they were enemies even though Ravenpaw probably didn't do anything wrong. They were brothers! And look at how Spiderleg turned out! I just think that none of these cats have any true concept of family. Everything else is humanized to the point of overdoing it. Why leave this out?


	7. Not a fan of Millie

Millie is Greystripe's second mate, who first appears when he has to find his way back to the Clans in the manga trilogy The Lost Warrior. My first interaction with Millie was when she and Greystripe arrived in ThunderClan, and from then on, she seemed like an asshole. It is okay to be strong and independent and want to prove yourself without being over-confident, because as many fans have done, that just gives people room to tear you down. I don't care that she didn't take a warrior name. She gave up all she knew to follow Greystripe to his Clan and I won't deny that she is a good warrior. I was so ready to give her a chance, hoping that she would be able to make her way from outsider to warrior with depth that made her more than "just a queen" (Daisy, but do you know how hard it is to take care of other people's kids? She and Ferncloud were badass in their own right!)

But then she was cocky and thought she knew everything "oh, I don't ever get sick!" *gets greencough*

And on top of that, she and Greystripe have kits. There is no problem with them having kits. It's perfectly natural. But apparently I need to reread the books again because Millie lovers say that she was overprotective and that is not the vibe I got at all. I know that the cats in this series have the ongoing mentality that their kits no longer need them at six moons old, but what about before then? Briarkit got greencough right alongside Millie. That is definitely no one's fault, but later on in the series, Briarkit almost gets bitten by a snake. Honeyfern dies saving her. Where the heck was Millie?! I saw Berrynose with his dreams crushed, but why wasn't Millie there to say "come back where I can see you, it's not safe for kits in camp."

I did not expect Millie to know that there was a snake in the camp. I just wanted her to know where her kit was and be able to get to her. I recognize that no one can be two places at once, especially with three kits, which brings me to a second problem. Where the everloving stars has Greystripe been all this time? If he was on a patrol out of camp then okay, I get that you're working. But seriously? What are you doing the rest of the time?! Why aren't you with your family?

Maybe it's implied, because things are usually from the perspective of a main character rather than on the Clan as a whole, but neither cat seems to get the hang of this whole parenting thing. And that makes me wonder who Stormfur and Feathertail had to have turned out as well as they did. Oakheart and Greypool must have been fantastic cats, because Mistyfoot and Stonefur (Oakheart and Bluestar's kits) were the mentors of Greystripe's RiverClan kits and they did amazingly well in the rest of the series.

The next big plot issue comes when they are older, and Briarlight gets crushed by the falling tree while trying to get Longtail out of camp. That bit of character redeems her parents in my eyes because it shows that their kits have good heads on their shoulders. Unfortunately, that goes out the window when Millie flies into a panic and smothers her broken child. It is not an easy thing to deal with, permanent injury and having your life snatched from you. But Frostfur didn't smother Cinderpelt and abandon Brackenfur, Thornclaw and Brightheart for fifty moons after her leg was crushed. I will acknowledge that Briarlight's situation is more dire, because she has a lot more chance of dying on the spot than Cinderpelt did. But does that give Millie the right to say "forget you" to her other kits and smother Briarlight three times over? I say smother because Briarlight was getting sick of her mother towards the end of the series. As for Blossomfall, she reacted the worst and with reason. Greystripe already wasn't around, but to lose Millie to her younger sister must have felt like favoritism. I don't know how Bumblestripe coped, but he seemed more adjusted to Clan life, even going on to pursue Dovewing and being able to take the initial rejection. (Score one for Thrushpelt and Ashfur can go jump off a cliff.) Blossomfall trained in the Dark Forest because she felt like she wasn't getting the attention she deserved, an error on both parts. I say that because who are you to go and fuss that you're not getting hugged by your mother to evil cats when you have the whole rest of a group that you live with to turn to? For those who say that Ivypool did exactly that, Ivypool wanted to be special like her sister and Hawkfrost offered her that. It was a very specific need that she felt only StarClan (the Dark Forest) could fill. Love and affection can come from anywhere, not just neglectful parents. Greystripe and Millie should have paid attention to all of their kits equally and Blossomfall should have asked Ferncloud or Daisy to spend some time with them.


End file.
